Derek Pringle: the mental processes that got Jonathan Trott averaging
over fifty in Tests and ODIs– may now have to be toned down if he is to cope
once more with competitive cricket

Jonathan Trott's withdrawal from cricket just five weeks after he gave an interview in which he targeted a return to the England team by May, at least shows he is no longer in denial over his mental issues. Now that has become clear, he has a far better chance of playing top level cricket again.

The process is unlikely to be a speedy one or include playing for England. Marcus Trescothick recovered to the point where he made a return to the national team only for the anxieties that drove him home initially to reappear and send him back again.

After much patience and therapy Trescothick has been able to function well enough to play county cricket again which is where Trott’s ambitions, at the age of 32, should now lie.

Trott’s issues, which were presented most graphically at the Gabba on the recent Ashes tour, have echoes of Trescothick’s problems which first arose on a tour of India in 2005/6.

Like Trott, Trescothick also did an interview where he tried to recast the reason for his return. Whereas Trott claimed that it was burnout that was the problem rather than the stress-related illness mentioned in the England and Wales Cricket Board’s media release, Trescothick claimed his departure from India was due to a virus and not the mental issues he admitted subsequently. Unsurprisingly, both versions, the product of bad advice, unravelled.

In Trott’s case the ECB cautioned him against doing his TV interview with Sky, suggesting it would be better to make a low-key return with his county.

But Trott has a Benefit Year to plug as well as a new sponsor’s deal to highlight (he wore the company’s shirt during the interview) and the opportunity proved too enticing for him and James McLaughlin, his agent.

Others also cautioned him against doing it. Indeed, such was the concern that Trott was rushing matters that Norman Gascoigne, Warwickshire’s chairman, suggested he delay his benefit until next season, using this one to get himself better.

Had that advice been taken Trott might have avoided the stress that will take hold when England do not renew his central contract in September and Warwickshire have to decide whether they award a player with obvious frailties a six-figure contract they can ill-afford.

Some commentators have claimed the ECB have largely ignored Trott on his return and allowed him to stew, though Neil Carter, a former team-mate of Trott’s at Warwickshire, said he seemed “chilled” when he saw him in Cape Town, “away from any cricket,” a month ago.

The ECB takes its “duty of care” over players very seriously especially after the problems experienced by Trescothick and Michael Yardy, another to leave international cricket but still find a role at county level, in his case with Sussex.

According to Dr Nick Peirce, the ECB’s chief medical officer, Trott will “continue with the comprehensive support programme the ECB has put in place to assist his rehabilitation,” following his return from Australia last November.

Problems like Trott’s have many roots. What happened at the Gabba against Mitchell Johnson was not the first time anxiety has taken hold of him on a cricket field, even if it was the most obvious. Johnson targeted him with the short ball and he was found wanting, a realisation at once both terrifying and chastening in someone brought up to be a tough competitor seeking perfection.

For a batsman there is no greater humiliation than having a weakness against short-pitched bowling. Not only does it call into question technique but also issues of machismo and bravery. In the build up to the Ashes in Australia Trott worked hard to eradicate his problems against such an attack but ended up making an issue of it instead.

Once he did that it affected all parts of his batting as he was forever looking for the short ball, something that appears to have afflicted him this season judging from some of his dismissals in the two first-class matches he has played.

Solutions are unlikely to prove simple. Even when things have gone well for Trott he appears to have been tightly wound. The obsessive-compulsive who scratches and re-scratches his mark at the crease until it is a geological feature, and the man who unbuckles and then buckles his pads before taking guard, suggests a soul who will not find it easy to lighten up.

And that could be an obstacle. The mental approach and processes that got him to where he was – a lofty place when you consider he once averaged over fifty in Tests and one-day internationals – may now have to be toned down if he is to cope once more with competitive cricket.

Admitting he has a problem though is a bold first step and a positive one. His recuperation is unlikely to be easy but at least it can now proceed.